Can’t issue guidelines to censor board: SC

Section 5C of the Act provides for appeals against the order of the Board.

A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu said that it was not the job of the court to issue such mandates for the CBFC.

The Supreme Court Friday said it cannot issue guidelines to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on how to assess a movie before allowing its release.

A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu said that it was not the job of the court to issue such mandates for the CBFC as the Board was constituted with experts and an appeal was also permitted against its orders before an appellate tribunal. “We cannot issue any such guidelines. We can give only suggestions. It (CBFC) is an expert body set up under an Act (Cinematograph Act, 1952). Section 5C of the Act provides for appeals against the order of the Board and you should exhaust this remedy.

How can we issue guidelines on what should be shown in a movie?” the bench asked senior advocate M N Krishnamani. Krishnamani was representing an organisation ‘Dharamprachar Sabha’ which had sought revocation of the certificate issued by the Censor Board to the Hindi film Singham Returns. The petition stated that the movie, on one hand, shows one religion and its religious and spiritual leaders in poor light while glorifying another religion on the other hand.

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Krishnamani said that no religion could be decried like this in a movie in the name of fiction and that a general direction should be issued to the Board to refuse certificates to films wherein the image of religious and spiritual places is maligned. The lawyer also sought a direction to the Centre to create a forum for people to approach in case they are aggrieved or hurt with a depiction in a movie and seek to challenge its certification.

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